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The Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast.

So joining me today is David Brady, former park ranger at Sergeant Alvin York State Park

in Tennessee.

David and I connected a couple of years ago when he invited me on the Palmao Do Boys podcast,

and we talked about the Mursargon during that session and for David and all other

Tennessee residents I've been pronouncing that Palma like the cigarette brand for like the

last 40 something years so I do apologize no offense meant palmal is the place in Tennessee

following up on the recent talk with Tennessee historian Pat Gang, David joins us today to dive

a little deeper into the AEF's 30th Old Hickory Division and its 119th Infantry Regiment

in which David's great-grandfather served and saw action. At the recent Great War Expo at York State Park, David came in dressed as a doughboy with accurate gear,

which by itself was awesome. However, he also brought the letters. His great-grandfather

wrote home from the front, and that was truly special. My hope is that we get to hear some of these

letters here today. So David, welcome and thanks for coming on the show, man.

Sure. Thanks for having me. I'm a bit excited to do this. Awesome. So if you would,

tell us a little bit more about yourself. And then, like, when did your interest in the Great War begin?

And are you, like, specifically, like, a Great War enthusiast?

Or does your history interest, do they span out further?

Yes.

So, like you said, I was Park Ranger over at Sergeant Devils of York State Historic Park. And before that, I was actually Park Ranger over at Frozenhead State Park here in Tennessee and Wharton County. But I've been with, I was with parks for altogether as close to 10 years with seasonal work and then full-time work. Yeah, live here in historic Oak Ridge,

which kind of is a cool place to live if you're into history and all that. It's really neat.

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